After several hours of on-again, off-again, we have official word that the pricing below is a promotion from Verizon, but no word how long it wil last. Mobile Hotspot is now free for all new and existing customers using webOS on Verizon - though it might take a bit of time for your bill to reflect the change.

Verizon Wireless has radically (and we mean radically) dropped the prices of its webOS products. The Palm Pre Plus is now going for $49.99 with a 2-year contract and the Palm Pixi Plus is going for $29.99 with a 2-year contract. On top of that, Buy One, Get One is still in full effect.

That's one way to clear a channel stuffed full of inventory. We're not sure how long this pricing will hold, but we will say that Sprint had best stand up, take notice, and get competitive - with the Pre Plus a full $100 cheaper than its non-plussed version (and a full $100 cheaper than the proposed AT&T price), this could get mighty interesting.

(Original updates as we followed the story while it broke overnight are after the break.)

Update: as rumored atberryscoop, when you select your plan extras the cost of the Mobile Hotspot plan is now $0.00 extra per month. That's zero as in free. We don't know yet whether or not this applies to existing plans - we'll update as we find out! Update x2: several members in the comments with existing Mobile Hotspot plans note that their cost has magically dropped from $40 a month to $0.

Update x2: Well that was fast (and strange). After dropping down to the prices that we mentioned last night, Verizon has returned the Pre Plus to $149.99 and the Pixi Plus to $79.99. As of this writing, the add-on cost of the Mobile Hotspot plan is still $0.00, but we're going to go ahead and suggest anybody who tries to get that call in to confirm. Any Verizon peeps want to chime in and explain this late night mystery?

Update x3: We're waiting to hear from Verizon wireless on the issue, because the prices are back down again.